US Air Force's innovative machine rapidly fills hangars with foam

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Fluctus channel. Whether it happens on land or inside the hangar of an aircraft carrier, the destructive power of a fire is difficult to overstate. A single blaze endangers personnel and can damage or even wipe out equipment worth billions of dollars. The presence of jet fuel and, in some cases, explosive ordnance raises the danger even further. This hangar at Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington is undergoing a full test of its fire suppression foam system. To earn certification from the United States military, the ceiling-mounted system must blanket at least 90% of the aircraft silhouette and cover the entire hangar floor with at least three feet of foam. even more demanding. It must achieve this within only four minutes. If the system fails to meet these standards for speed and extinguishing performance, the base may need to repeat the entire process from the start. Though these foam systems are extremely effective at putting out a wide range of blazes, they are not foolproof. The U.S. military learned this quite well in 2014, when the fire suppression system was accidentally triggered during a routine alarm test at a National Guard Station in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The resulting blanket of foam covered thousands of square feet, both inside and outside the hangar. It even buried several Black Hawk helicopters that had been parked outside. Most firefighting foam is designed to smother fires, but they often contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals to aid in this process. This means cleanup must be done with great care and thousands of gallons of water. The primary issue with foam fire suppression systems is that the thick bubbles used to quell a spreading fire also dramatically reduce visibility. This can make it nearly impossible for a team of firefighters or emergency responders to rescue individuals who may be trapped inside. This team of firefighters from the Edwards Fire and Emergency Services is conducting just such an exercise at Edwards Air Force Base in California. As foam hits the ground and expands inside the hangar, firefighters use their hoses to carve a path through the foam, allowing them to gain brief seconds of visibility. However, the foam still makes it incredibly difficult to find the decoy casualties stuck on the ground. Eventually, using teamwork, they are able to battle against the foam and locate the dummy. Firefighting foam is a relatively new invention. For that reason, scientists at the Naval Research Lab have continued to perform in-depth research on the foams themselves, as well as their potential. One of the primary goals of this research is to find a type of foam that can serve as a speedy fire suppressant while containing fewer potentially hazardous chemicals. During this round of research, chemical engineers tested nearly 30 different chemical fire suppressants from commercial sources. The team is hoping to find the best possible option for use aboard ships sailing in the open ocean. As chemicals can pose a huge problem so far away from shore, the potential for environmental contamination is a major consideration. In recent years, foam technology has advanced exponentially. Many fire crews in the military and public sectors now use them via both automatic and handheld systems. In fact, the foam expands so quickly that just a few operators can cover the entire deck of an aircraft carrier in mere minutes. In 2021, the US Navy performed tested an aqueous film forming foam system aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. This type of system, known by the abbreviation AFFF, is purchased as a concentrate and deployed via both overhead systems and traditional hoses. They are made up of hydrocarbon foaming agents and fluorinated surfactants, which allow them to form an airtight layer of film that cuts off the fire's oxygen supply. Best of all, these systems can act very quickly. This is important, as aircraft carrier hangars are notoriously tight, which means the fire can spread to adjacent rooms and levels in just a few minutes. Fires are among the biggest threats to any military vessel, regardless of class, size, or complement. For this reason, every crew member is taught basic firefighting skills. Ships also hold frequent drills to ensure all personnel know what to do if a fire breaks out in various parts of the ship. Communication is particularly important in these scenarios, which can feature everything from fake smoke and simulated fire to crew members holding fire flags to ensure speedy reactions, hoses, protective suits, and firefighting equipment are hidden at various points around the interior and on the deck. Larger vessels will have their own team of trained Navy firefighters to aid with shipboard education and to lead the way in an emergency. Despite even the best training and equipment, Shipboard fires are sometimes just too powerful to get under control. A stark reminder of this fact occurred on the 12th of July 2020, when an explosion rang out aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard. The WASP-class amphibious assault ship was lucky enough to be undergoing maintenance at the naval base in San Diego, so only 17 sailors and four civilians were injured. However, it took a total of four days for the fire to be extinguished, And that's with a combination of boats, helicopters, and land-based efforts. Unfortunately, the ship itself could not be saved, and it's estimated that it will cost $4 billion to replace it. Many of the United States Navy's Nimitz-class aircraft carriers are fitted with a system known as the Countermeasure Washdown System, often called the CWS. At its core, this system consists of an extensive network of sprinklers built directly into the surface of the flight deck. For that reason, crew members must use on deck hoses to wash down the island structure, the radar platforms, and any other elevated areas that the deck-mounted sprinklers cannot fully cover. Although the CWS can indeed be activated in response to a fire or major accident on the flight deck, its purpose goes far beyond basic emergency response. One of its most important functions is to help the crew rapidly neutralize the effects of a biological or chemical warfare attack. The pumps driving this system draw in seawater, which contains high levels of salt and is naturally corrosive to metal surfaces and delicate equipment. Believe it or not, fires are actually quite uncommon aboard large naval vessels. What is far more common are the everyday threats posed by flus, colds, noroviruses, and a wide range of other easily transmitted illnesses. Life at sea places hundreds, and in some cases thousands of sailors in very close proximity for extended periods of time. Because of this close contact, maintaining strict standards of cleanliness and sanitation is not just a routine practice, but a major priority for the health of the entire crew. High touch surfaces like ladders, handrails, and door handles are wiped down constantly, especially during periods of increased illness. These measures become even more rigorous whenever an outbreak is suspected or when a ship is preparing to get underway. When considering threats to a ship the size of an aircraft carrier or amphibious assault ship, it's easy to think of bombs, missiles, and torpedoes. On the contrary, Mother Nature is far more dangerous, be it in the form of uncontrollable fires or fast-spreading upper respiratory illnesses. Fortunately, some of the US military's smartest scientists are working to make the systems used to fight fires and prevent outbreaks more affordable and efficient than ever. The same goes for aircraft hangars, which can store tens of billions of dollars of equipment at a time. Were a fire to break out, all of these aircraft could be lost before firefighters could respond. And that doesn't even begin to calculate the potential loss of life in any of these scenarios. While it may be hard to think of the military as a safety-first organization, it's important to remember just how much work goes into eradicating threats that have nothing to do with the enemy. That's the end of this video. I hope you enjoyed it. Make sure to subscribe to this channel so you don't miss any of our new content. See you next time.